I Love it Here!- Building a Culture of Positivity in Your School
I love it here!- Building a culture of positivity in your school
Fostering a positive culture and climate is an active process of building foundational blocks for school success. Building this climate and culture helps to resolve problems such as bullying, teacher burnout, disengaged students, high suspension rates, among others. These issues have a large impact on the school community. The ultimate goals for building a positive school culture are; better teaching, better school learning, and better results for all learners. School leaders must continue to grapple with the hard work of building and creating a positive culture and climate. This work is constant and ever present in a school building. Now, that learning has transitioned to the virtual platform, the work for school leaders needs to continue but in a different way. A positive school culture is built on structures and support for meaningful collaboration.
The first article below defines positive school climate as, “characterized by strong collaborative learning communities. Research shows that this improves teacher practice as well as student learning through dialogue and collaboration around engaging classroom instruction.”
There are certain key roles school leaders must assume to support meaningful collaboration which leads to a positive culture and climate. These key roles stay the same for both the brick and mortar building and a virtual platform. Develop and support vision for teaching and learning, nurture leaders among faculty and staff and model effective collaboration practices. As leaders navigate the online learning environment, the development and support for teaching and learning involves the productive collaboration to become clearer about the purpose and goals to develop a shared sense of responsibility and commitment to achieving the group’s mission. Nurturing leaders among faculty and staff looks like linking roles and responsibility with the skills people bring to the learning environment. Lastly, the modeling effective collaboration practices in a virtual environment include using well-defined collaboration processes, the communication plan, the operating plan which include the agreement and norms for online collaboration.
The first article also outlines not onlines collaboration practices for building a positive culture and climate but also the components of physical and emotional safety, respect for diversity, equity and inclusion, relationships, supportive teaching practices, sense of community and continuous improvement. These components do not differ from what learning and teaching are in a physical building versus a virtual platform. However, the strategies to arrive at these components look different.
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-05-21-how-to-foster-a-positive-school-climate-in-a-virtual-world
The articles provided offer insightful advice and techniques. It is important to note, in order to foster and maintain a positive school environment all aspects must be addressed. Additionally connection is at the foundation of any positive interactions. The first article mentions tips such as, "make time to greet others and support others and never lose your sense of humor". Both of these actions will help ensure school leaders are seen as relatable and receptive. These points relate to the "sense of community" mentioned in the second article. Everyone within the community has a part to play and they deserve to be acknowledged and celebrated. Feedback from all community members should be encouraged. This helps create an atmosphere of inclusion and shows leaders are willing to listen.
ReplyDeleteI think these important qualities of a high functioning school community are so challenging to incorporate into an online learning environment. What's happened in my daughter's school is that they made community meetings and restorative circles optional and made live instruction all about the academics. I think they need to build time for engagement into all of their live sessions to keep this aspect of school alive for children.
ReplyDeleteA positive culture is important and while it seems natural to carry into the virtual setting, I don’t believe it is as seamless. Nothing can replace in person interactions and socialization that a brick and mortar allows stakeholders to develop. Virtual learning created more anxiety with constant changes, tech issues to an already overwhelming situation. Additionally, trying to operate with business as usual with the curriculum was not helpful especially to those who couldn’t connect daily due to a myriad of reasons including becoming the breadwinner or the family. If nothing, I believe virtual learning exposed inequities, underlying health related issues and highlighted an even GREATER need for more SEL, self care and mental health.
ReplyDeleteOne contributor really spoke to me. A positive culture comes from consistency of little things. “I absolutely believe that if, as a leader, you simply do the little things every day, there then are no big issues to overcome. Visibility, honesty, empowering others, [keeping] your word, never leveling anyone by job description, and [saying] a simple 'thank you' are the start of a positive formula, and each of your actions needs to be real, meaningful and sustainable. Lead with passion for the school community and watch everyone follow your lead."